Congress wears its Telangana cap

The fight for a separate Telangana has reached a new high with the Congress, a major hurdle towards creation of the state, likely to take a positive view and hasten the process of arriving at a consensus on it.

The Congress core committee, which met in New Delhi on Monday, has decided to make a major announcement in a day or two. Congress sources declined to give any indicators to the announcement.

The meeting was attended by Union home minister P Chidambaram, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, party in-charge in Andhra Veerappa Moily and Sonia Gandhi’s political adviser Ahmed Patel. The party high command has reportedly asked chief minister K Rosaiah to seek other parties’ view on the issue. Rosaiah was to hold an all-party meeting on Monday.

After aligning with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in 2004, the UPA had formed a committee led by Pranab Mukherjee for a political consensus on Telangana. The committee was to submit its report in six weeks in 2004, but has not done so. Though reluctant, several Congress leaders are coming round to accepting the idea of a separate state. “The Congress was never against the state. We had left the decision on the party high command and  will abide by it,” PCC president D Srinivas said.

Meanwhile, students of various universities, including Osmania University, are continuing their protest. On Monday, the police stormed the university campus and caned the students. The police also attacked some journalists who tried to enter the campus. Irked by the police attack on the media, the government transferred DCP Stephen Ravindra in the evening.